Bike Route 1: Denver Area – Highline-Lee Gulch-Platte River-Chatfield Loop

(From 7/11/06 on my old blog)

This ride is 20.5 miles. It is mostly on unpaved fine gravel so I recommend a fat tire bike. The South Platte and C470 portions are paved but the Highline and Lee Gulch and a good part of the route on the dam is not paved. Only significant uphill is on the two approaches you have to do at Chatfield Dam. Nice, off street trails but you do have to cross a few streets. Extra nice when the canal has water in it.

1. Ride from my house to Highlands Ranch’s Redstone Park.
2. Get on the Highline Canal trail going "downstream" (right). You can access the Highline Canal trail from the northeast corner of the intersection of Foothills Canyon Blvd. and Town Center Drive.
3. Follow Highline Canal trail to C470 where it joins the C470 trail.
4. Go under C470 and follow the C470 trail until it splits with the Highline Canal trail.
5. Follow Highline Canal trail across County Line Road, Mineral Avenue and a number of other streets until you get to the junction with the Lee Gulch Trail.
6. Turn left on the Lee Gulch Trail and follow it until you pass the railroad tracks and Santa Fe Drive. The trail ends on the South Platte Greenway Trail.
7. Turn left on the South Platte Greenway Trail and follow it past Mineral, County Line and C470 until you come to the C470 trail again.
8. Follow the C470 trail towards the mountains until you go past the big dam at Chatfield.
9. Then head up the road to get to the top of the dam.
10. Ride the entire length of the dam about 2 1/4 miles until the dam ends at the railroad tracks.
11. Cross the tracks and you are on the Highline Canal trail again. Turn left.
12. Follow the Highline Canal trail past Santa Fe Drive until you come back to where you got on the Highline Canal Trail by Redstone Park in step 1 above.
13. Back to my house.